News about reptiles and amphibians. This may be news from herpetologists, organizations, but also from private persons. Everyone is welcome to send me some news about the protection, abusing, mistreatment, discoveries, etc., of these fascinating animals .

zondag 4 maart 2012

Living keyrings

Living sea creatures are being captured and sold as keyrings! This is disgusting and should not be allowed!!

Live fish and small turtles sealed in plastic keychains
have become increasingly popular items sold at subway entrances and
train stations across China.

The living keychains containing Brazilian turtles or king
fish swimming in colored water are considered good-luck charms by many
Chinese, but animal protection groups are outraged and call them a
perfect example of “pure animal abuse”. Business is booming according to
Chinese online newspaper Global
Times, which reports one fish and nine turtle rings have been sold in
just five minutes, on Tuesday, at the Sihui subway station, in Beijing.According to vendors, the colored water in the
7-centimeter-long keychains contains nutrients that allow fish and
turtles to live inside for months. While that may be true, Mary Peng,
cofounder of the International Center for Veterinary Services, says they
couldn’t survive in the sealed bag for very long, due to lack of
oxygen.

While animal rights activists are protesting loudly against
the sale of living keychains, there isn’t much else they can do, because
China only has a Wild Animal Protection Law – if the animals are not
wild animals they fall outside the law’s scope. Until the law changes to
protect all kinds of animals, activists can only appeal to people not
to buy them, and hope the market will die due to lack of customers.Although some people buy these bizarre keychains to carry
around for good-luck, there are those who buy them just to free the poor
creatures from their tiny plastic cage.